The first problem is this: USNWR doesn't disclose all of the data it uses above. The second problem is this: USNWR discloses data it doesn't even use in its overall score.

If you opened up the magazine, then, the "recipe" would have a bunch of missing ingredients, and a bunch of useless ingredients.

You could figure out some of this data on you own, such as obtaining the ABA median LSAT and UGPA data. And you could understand why some of it is kept in the dark: for instance, keeping expenditures per student private to avoid an arms race, or to minimize the secret formula for weighing employment rates to avoid schools gaming the employment statistics as they had for years. Some try to reverse-engineer the scores to reveal the data that's otherwise hidden.

But it's notable that the final score--and final ordinal rank--has a majority of its data concealed from the public eye. Indeed, its glossy print edition includes six columns of data that the magazine itself deems irrelevant to its overall score. It's one reason why professors like Brian Leiter constantly implore commentators to focus on the data, not the ranking--and it should call into question why so much data is concealed.

Tomorrow, U.S. News & World Report will disclose its ordinal rankings, likely with a slightly modified methodology. But it's important to recognize that this ranking--this cake--was baked with ingredients we don't have the pleasure of seeing.